I.V. VERNADSKYI’S STUDY OF THE PRE-CLASSICAL ECONOMIC THOUGHT

Introduction. The study of the history of economic thought takes a significant place in the scientific heritage of the outstanding economist I. V. Vernadskyi (1821–1884). Analyzing the development of economic thought, he emphasized the role of the state in the economic life of society. The article aims to study his original approach to the classification of the leading directions of world economic thought, dividing them into positive (representatives advocate the direct state regulation of production) and negative (representatives deny the usefulness of state intervention in the economy). I. V. Vernadskyi's analysis of the early pre-classical stages of the genesis of economic thought (views of ancient thinkers, representatives of mercantilism, and protectionism), which are not the focus of historical and economic research, deserves special attention. Purpose. The purpose of the article is to study I. V. Vernadskyi's analysis of the pre-classical period of the development of world economic thought considering his original methodological approach to the classification of its main directions. Materials and methods. The research resources are 1) the works of I. V. Vernadskyi in the history of economic thought, in particular, «Critical-historical study on Italian political and economic literature until the beginning of the 19th century» and «Essay on the history of political economy»; 2) scientific works of contemporary Ukrainian scholars, researchers in the economic history and economic thought dedicated to the life and work of I. V. Vernadskyi. The following scientific methods were used in the research process: logical and historical approaches, comparative analysis, and theoretical generalization of results. Results. The article shows that I. V. Vernadskyi divides the history of world economic thought into two fundamental directions: positive (representatives advocate the direct state regulation of production) and negative (representatives deny the effectiveness of state intervention in the economy). I. V. Vernadskyi referred economic views of the ancient thinkers, mercantilism, protectionism, and socialism to the positive direction, and physiocracy and the school of Adam Smith, or the industrial school, — to the negative. In this article, we focused on I. V. Vernadskyi's contribution to the study of the pre-classical period of world economic thought, represented exclusively by the authors included by him to the positive direction. In his opinion, ancient thinkers were characterized by: 1) a state-centric approach while ignoring private economic interests; and 2) the division of spheres of activity into full-fledged (military affairs and agriculture) and inferior (crafts and trade). According to Vernadsky, the essence of the second, most powerful direction of economic thought of the positive direction — mercantilism, is that its representatives considered money as the only measure of national wealth. In the conditions of the existence of national economies, mercantilism supporters believed it was completely acceptable to extract precious metals from other countries using an active monetary or trade balance. Another positive direction of the pre-classical economic thought was protectionism, whose representatives believed that the development of national industry needed state protection from foreign competition. I. V. Vernadskyi critically assesses the achievements of the positive direction of pre-classical economic thought. In our opinion, this position could be explained by the fact that he was a supporter of the paradigmatic standard of economic theory developed by A. Smith and the Classical school of political economy.